Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Mike Ghouse notes, Muslims and Peter King Strategy

Part of the following response was shared with the key Muslim leadership in America and as the questions come up, I will be sharing my responses in the comment section below. I hope to address all the questions thrown on the issue.

Peter King has made statements that are repulsive, and on the top of it they have no foundation or not sources to it. He pulls things out of thin air or acts out of the seat of his pants.

We are concerned about the hearings and hope and pray that Mr. King would be honest, sincere and fair, although his record is marred with bigotry. We hope he will not destroy the fabric of our society and pit one American against the other. If he goes wrong, the American people will not put up with it, as they have done that time and again. I trust the Americans, the moderate Americans who are a majority and have supported and turned around Vietnam War, Iraq war, abortion issues, civil rights etc.

We have sadly elected the Republican Majority, which I had advocated all along; unfortunately it turned out to be a disaster. The right wings among them are riding on “hate agenda” and shamelessly the majority of the Good for nothing Republican Party is letting them carry it and evil thoughts continue to perpetuate.

The Republican Party rode to power in 2010 on hate agenda, shame on us to put them-in for their hate and not for addressing our issues. If they don’t get their act together we have to dump the leadership and fix them. I am a Republican and will stay one and count on me to attend the meetings, questioning and demanding proof for their non-sense and I hope many Republican will have the spine to speak up against what is wrong with their leadership.

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About 1:00 PM on Tuesday, March 8Muslims and Peter King strategy

There are a lot of things we can do; a conference on Sharia, Quraan and other issues facing the nation to build cohesive societies. Get people to participate and for God’s sake attend the interfaith meetings, go the churches, synagogues and temples as a part of the learning.

Let’s develop a group of Muslims to go speak about Islam in churches; they are hungry to hear us out, they are eager to have friendship. We are not doing our part.

I am working on doing a talk on Sean Hannity show on the above topic, contrary to what he has been in the past and I see the improvement and desire in him to present another point of view. If I get the time, I will put videos clips together – he is not condemning Sharia out rightly anymore, at least he asks the other guests is this the Sharia Mr. Ghouse talks about or the Iranian Sharia? He asks me about Egypt, “Michael, what if you are wrong?” that element of doubt is good and intellectualism is taking root in him. He grudgingly acknowledges, he even agreed that CIA and Mossad have provided false information to America.

Though it is difficult, in every show, I have been able to get a few key points out. Insha Allah, if I get the time, I will put the analysis together.Today, Dallas Morning News and Huffington post will publish my articles about Federal debt and Evolution – it is a main stream article but I have included Islam into the conversation, it easy for the reader to absorb tid-bits here and there than a full talk on Islam.

We need to put our heads together and bring about a positive change.# # #

Guess what! I stopped at 1:05 and now it is 1:22, I was on Hannity Radio a nationally syndicated show against Brigit Gabrielle – The clear points I made are:

1) Muslims have condemned 9/11, condemned Osama, just Google it or check out World Muslim Congress website or American Muslim website, the list is there.

2) Muslims believe in justice and they are happy with the American laws and very few entertain Sharia Laws in America

3) Imam Anjem Choudhary is radical, his views are as representative of Muslims as Pat Robertson representing Christians.

4) She misquoted Quraan and I corrected her, she said Prophet Muhammad divided the world in Dar al harb and dar al Islam, I corrected her, prophet Muhammad did not do that, it was done by the kings later on for their own political reasons

5) I may lose you on my take on Abrogation theory, you may disagree with me, that is Ok, I believe God did not screw up by saying one thing and then coming back and saying “what I said before is negated what I am saying now.” The Non-Muslims are confused with this idea, so what do we believe, what is abrogated and what is not…

6) … I will attach the radio link on my site, that was 15 minutes of talk and I said Sean that as a Muslim, I will stand with him to protect him if that Choudhary guy has threatened him.

7 comments:

Indeed, when the pastor in Dallas called Quraan evil, instead of reacting wildly, I went to his church... then held a successful conference on Quraan with 10 Pastors, Rabbis, Pundits and Shamans on the panel. It has dramatically changed the perceptions. Lot of research work at www.QuraanConference.com

No one can stop Peter King from holding the hearings, the best thing to spend our energies on moulding and shaping the hearings, I am not sure if we have lost that ability by opposing it, we can still rescue it.

I am in full agreement with you to call a spade a spade. However, we cannot prevent him from holding the hearings, the more we oppose, the stronger his case becomes.

We lost the option to befriend him without opposition, in which case he would have thought it was a futile battle. We could have even gained some elbow room with him and be on the conversation. Indeed we are not on the wrong side, his approach is wrong.

We have other options, one of them is to welcome him and see where the hearings head - and here is where ISNA, CAIR, ICNA and others can play a big role.

When the pastor in Dallas said ugly things about Prophet and Quraan, I paid him a visit, we carried a debate and eventually held a conference - with 10 Panelists made up of various christian denominations and other faiths. They read the verses from the Quraan, and thank God they understood like we do. Imam Zia Shaikh made great contributions. We can do the same, hold a conference, well publicized and it will given the controversty brewing... and lets be critical with ourselves and invite him to be on the panel and bring the most radical ones like McCain, Palin to share and hear out - "Facts" and not "hearsay". we still have that opportunity.

As I mentioned earlier, it is a test of democracy and as Muslims, we pass, we have divergent views and we are not monolithic.

Instead of opposing it, we should have welcomed it and thanked him for taking the steps to secure America for one and all, that would have opened him up to give us a voice and shape the hearings, we probably would have been able to give different perspectives to the hearings.

It may be too late to participate, but at least we cannot let them dig in their heels; we need to take a pro-active approach to carry it further. A press release is needed from CAIR, ISNA, ICNA, ASMA and all the major organizations; we need to turn this from hostility into an exercise in friendship.

A few Muslims are doing everything they can, but a majority of Muslims assume nothing is going to happen to them, they simply are blind to the tightening noose.

If Osama Bin Laden can speak for Islam, each Muslim should be able to speak about it, no one needs any permission from any organization, this must change and the Imams need to invalidate the others. We are not a monolithic lot.

We should not have to face the opposition for the Mosques; we have not done enough of the relationship work in the communities.

We have the council of Imams. Can some one step up and prepare Friday Sermons to be delivered in as many Mosques as we can, addressing the issues facing us and channeling Muslim psyche towards participation in the main stream activities. Familiarity knocks out stereotyping.

We need to set our priorities.

Let each Juma Khutba offer three or four simple choice items for Muslims to do each week. Like, inviting a neighbor or a fellow worker to have a cup of coffee and share about themselves and their families; we need to prepare people to avoid religious conversations unless we have a good relationship; we need to be an example to be emulated and should not sell religion. I am opposed to conversions any way.

Take the initiative, and support any Muslim doing anything to part-take in the main stream activities.

There are a lot of things we can do; a conference on Sharia, Quraan and other issues facing the nation to build cohesive societies. Get people to participate and for God’s sake attend the interfaith meetings, go the churches, synagogues and temples as a part of the learning.

As a Pluralist and an American Muslim, I am pleased to share diverse opinions on the subject on this blog. I am a volunteer and with limited time so don't count on every article, if you know a good piece and is not posted here, then please share it by post the link in the comments section to be included as one of the postings. No rantings please!

We are concerned about the hearings and hope and pray that Mr. King would be honest, sincere and fair, although his record is marred with bigotry. We hope he will not destroy the fabric of our society and pit one American against the other. If he does, the American people will not put up with it, as they have done that time and again. I trust our system and our people who have stood up against Vietnam War, Iraq war and supported abortion and civil rights and one of these days rights for GLBT and every American.

I welcome the hearings, Muslims have nothing to fear and nothing to worry, let the man fall flat on his face “if” he resorts to untruths. What if he turns out to be honest and finds guys like Shehzad? Then we owe him a gratitude, not just Muslims but the whole nation.

Please watch the serious as well as the humorous videos, I paritcularly challenge the right wingers to watch, there is a word out there that you guys are unhumorous and do not want to hear another point of view. Prove them wrong and welcome to a world of co-existence, together as Americans, let's create civil society where no American is fearful of the other. That's my dream - Mike Ghouse

AMERICANS TOGETHER

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